About Us
The Global Center for Health Security is the culmination of 20 years of persistence, planning and training at UNMC to build emergency preparedness capacity.
The Nebraska Public Health Laboratory was established at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1997 through a cooperative agreement between the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Nebraska Medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided grant funding for testing of bio-threat and chemical agents.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, UNMC was among several entities nationwide to receive federal funding for bioterrorism preparedness. In 2004, UNMC, in conjunction with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, and Nebraska Medicine, began planning the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. It opened in 2005, as the largest such unit in the nation, set up to handle highly contagious and deadly infectious conditions, including: SARS, smallpox, plague, Ebola virus disease and other viral hemorrhagic fevers.
Mission, Vision, Values
Mission
Innovate and advance preparedness and response for emerging infectious diseases and catastrophic health emergencies. Building capacity and capability for operational response by leveraging research, education, training, and technical performance. Enable twenty-first century care for health emergencies and low-resource environments.
Vision
Lead the world in health system preparedness for "Disease X" (novel, emerging infectious diseases) and other catastrophic public health emergencies
Values
Agile & Flexible | Operationally Focused | Collaborative | Innovative | Altruistic | Courageous
Annual Reports
2020 GCHS Annual Report
As the year closed amid the largest global pandemic since the early 1900s, we reflected on the vital role the Global Center for Health Security and its partners played in our community, state, nation, and even across the globe. Providing assistance with quarantine and isolation care, convening an ethics committee to promptly address rising concerns, and rapidly conducting ground-breaking research are just several of the accomplishments that continue to make the GCHS and its partners world leaders in biopreparedness and public health emergencies.
2020 National Emerging Special Pathogens Training & Education Center (NETEC) Annual Report
Launched in 2018, ASPR designated UNMC/Nebraska Medicine as a pilot site for the Region VII Disaster Health Response Ecosystem program that seeks to advance community preparedness to support regional health care delivery for public health emergencies and capacity for large-scale disasters.
2020 Region VII Disaster Health Response Ecosystem
Launched in 2018, ASPR designated UNMC/Nebraska Medicine as a pilot site for the Region VII Disaster Health Response Ecosystem program that seeks to advance community preparedness to support regional health care delivery for public health emergencies and capacity for large-scale disasters.
2020 Training, Simulation, and Quarantine Center
The Training, Simulation & Quarantine Center (TSQC) is funded by the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Department of Health and Human Services, to maintain the National Quarantine Unit in a state of readiness to ensure rapid response to the nation's health security needs. The TSQC also provides training to multiple government departments such as the Public Health Service and National Disaster Medical System in its state-of-the-art biocontainment training unit.
Meet Our Experts
Our team answered the call during the Ebola crisis, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold and in planning for future outbreaks.
